EU: SECRET TRILOGUES MEETINGS
04 April 2014
See:
Secret EU lawmaking: the triumph of the trilogue (euobserver, link): Interesting article which explores the secret trilogue process between the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament - which is effectively the European Legislature meeting in secret and which decides over 80% of new laws in the EU. The article says that:
"if trilogue meetings and their minutes were opened up to the public, lawmakers would just find another way of negotiating in secret".
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch Director, comments:
"The argument that if law-making in the EU meant all the documents, a transcript of the discussions and the minutes were public then the power elite in Brussels would find a way to by-pass the system is the traditional argument used to perpetuate secret decision-making. It has no place in a democracy worthy of the name."
See:
Secret trilogues and the democratic deficit (pdf) and
European Parliament: Abolish 1st [and 2nd] reading secret deals - bring back democracy “warts and all” (pdf)